Geoffery Matautia
The front yard portraits capture a unique and inspiring sub-culture of style.
This story is part of the Stuff Festival of Fashion, presented by Samsung. See more from the festival here.
The best fashion imagery tends to capture a moment in time, a showcase of how we dressed, then. Whether it’s Kim Kardashian on the cover of Vogue, a reflection of our celebrity obsessed and curated image-as-brand culture, a lockdown fashion shoot featuring a model captured over Zoom, or classic street style, these images can act as a sort of style time capsule.
Sometimes, the most simple approach can be the most reflective. Geoffery Matautia’s front yard series was a photo essay that began in lockdown last year, with the Manurewa-based photographer taking striking portraits of his South Auckland friends in front of their homes – standing strong in slogan tees, Layplan hoodies, yellow Crocs and puletasi.
To me, these simple and intimate photos say so much more about how youth are dressing and “NZ fashion” than most fashion editorial/magazine shoots that I’m seeing produced right now; a display of genuine style from a community that is and has always had a significant role in shaping Aotearoa’s creative and style industries.
READ MORE:
* How NZ dresses: Street style from Karangahape Road
* Festival of Fashion live chat recap: NZ’s top stylists on fashion and getting dressed
* Festival of Fashion: Street style from markets around Aotearoa
Matautia, who is also known to his community on Instagram and TikTok as @southsides, started taking the portraits in October 2020, out of boredom during lockdown – heading out to safely photograph portraits of his friends, and asking them what they were looking forward to for summer.
The response to the photos was immediate and positive, so he decided to turn it into a series.
“I think people resonated with it because the concept and execution of it was so simple and lighthearted,” Matautia explains. “It was authentic in the way the photos looked and the process of how they were taken, how they ‘posed’ and even the wording of the captions that went alongside them.
“A big thing I wanted to keep away from was the negative aspects of lockdown, because others were already talking about that.”
It is significant that Matautia focused his lens on his South Auckland community – one that has been hugely impacted by the various Covid outbreaks, and has been the victim of much online hate.
Instead, these portraits celebrate and uplift. And yes: at its most basic and frivolous level, showcase some incredibly cool fashion.
Matautia admits that he didn’t think about the fashion aspect of his images, as the instruction of what to wear was so simple – “to wear whatever they felt comfortable in” – and so the clothes and environment were secondary to the subject.
But looking back, he can see some recurring items and themes: like oversized clothing, and “rocking and supporting local brands paired with the classic socks and slides”.
“I just think the South Auckland style is comfortable,” he says. “Everyone’s always on a mission, whether it’s running errands for your family or going to get a feed with your mates.”
Rather than how his photos might reflect a special subculture of NZ style, Matautia is more interested in commenting on the “effortlessly cool” style of the young creatives in the various art collectives that are popping up in Tāmaki Makaurau.
“You kinda envy their confidence especially working mostly with Pacific youth who are usually the artsy black sheep of their families,” he says. “It’s cool to see them explore and express their creativity through what they create but also what they wear.”
He has an up close and personal perspective on much of this: alongside his flourishing photography career, Matautia works as a project coordinator in the Office of Pacific Advancement at the Auckland University of Technology (he shares lots of fun insight on his TikTok).
He’s also part of the buzzy art collective called Raroboys, a group of 10 Pasifika creatives and friends who are part of Tāmaki Makaurau’s exciting young arts scene. They recently opened an exhibition at the Māngere Arts Centre (open until March 27), with some of Matautia’s front yard photos proudly on display alongside other illustrative, painting, graphic design and photographic work.
Like Matautia’s work and creative approach the show, titled ‘Raroboys & Friends’, is a true collaborative affair with Raroboys bringing in other young creative collectives to showcase their work – some as young as 16 and still studying in school.
